Writing from the Blue House

Amity & Sorrow

The Road to Salvation

‘Amity & Sorrow,’ by Peggy Riley

“[A] shimmering first novel…. This delicately stitched, finely patterned and poetic novel suggests there is a tipping point at which human resilience disappears…. Riley has a gift for metaphor that gives this novel loft, and a rhythmic way of swinging from present to past.”Dylan Landis, New York Times Book Review

“Riley writes with a quiet lyricism…. the relationships [Amaranth and Amity] build there are genuinely moving.”John Williams, New York Times

“Once in a while a book comes along that can not only grip you but keep you thinking long after the last page. Enter Amity & Sorrow…. Perhaps it’s Riley’s experience as a playwright that brings the words of this novel to life and sets it apart as a stunningly original contemporary classic. Or maybe it is the remarkable characterisation and intense plot. Either way. I urge you to read Riley’s novel” Stylist Magazine (UK)

“This is an impressive and often pretty harrowing debut novel, whose strength and power explain why it has been chosen to launch a new literary imprint.” Daily Mail (UK)

“Fierce and disturbing…. A harsh but compassionate look at nature vs. nurture.” The Washington Examiner(US)

“Riley strips her story to an almost mythic essence without losing track of the details that ground it in a specific place and time. A sense of imminent danger coexists with an awareness of the possibility of healing, and the tension between horror and hope makes the novel hard to put down.”The Columbus Dispatch (US)